Ranveer Singh rightly said that his chemistry with Deepika Padukone is the highlight in Ram Leela as the duo looks like a magic on screen.

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ram Leela is said to be an adaptation of Shakespearean epic, Romeo and Juliet, set in violent times.

Deepika Padukone reportedly broke down on the last day of Ram Leela when Sanjay Leela Bhansali praised the actress.

Ranveer Singh is the desi Romeo 'Ram' in Ram Leela.

Deepika Padukone plays Leela, a Gujarati girl.

Ram Leela literally is Goliyon Ki Raasleela.

Deepika Padukone takes the lead in this romantic scene from Ram Leela. Check out more stills.

Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone who have been cast opposite each other for the first time exude brilliant chemistry in Ram Leela. Here's the best ...

Ram Leela

Direction: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Actors: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Supriya Pathak

Rating: ***

If Sanjay Leela Bhansali is to be believed, Gujaratis are the most colorful, passionate, violent, loud and lusty community in this country. So everyone in the fictional village of Ranjaar is permanently brawling, killing, drinking or loving.

There are no half-measures in this town. A minor tiff can escalate into a bloody battle with a high body count; the Rajadis and Saneras have been at loggerheads for 500 years now.

Naturally, Ram, a Rajadi played by Ranveer Singh, falls in love with Leela, a Sanera played by Deepika Padukone. Goliyon ki Raasleela — Ram Leela is Shakespeare on steroids and, for the first half, works wonderfully. As in his past films, Bhansali creates a hermetically sealed fictional world that has little connect with reality. But unlike in Saanwariya or Guzaarish, here he injects a robust humour and creates a gorgeous love story.

His trump cards are Ranveer and Deepika. They are effortlessly sexy. Bhansali celebrates their beauty and bodies. But they also have texture and depth.

Their first meeting is magical and their passion sears the screen. In her last three films, Deepika has stolen the show from her heroes, but this one, I think, belongs to Ranveer. He’s flamboyant and cheerfully vulgar but also vulnerable and broken.Cinematographer Ravi Varman bathes each frame in rich, lush colours.

The music, by Bhansali, is lovely. And Supriya Pathak as the chilling Sanera godmother is a treat. But the narrative starts to wobble just before the interval; post mid-point, it unravels completely.

The plot becomes clumsier and clumsier and the joy we had found in the key characters is snuffed out by violence and ugliness. Which is when you start to notice how ridiculous the scenario actually is — these folks are some sort of underworld dons but you never see them actually doing anything except killing each other.

Mobile phones abound and at one point there is talk of Twitter, but the village and its feuds seem to belong to another century.

Bhansali’s famed aesthetic sense never falters, but it becomes grating when peacocks fly away artfully as a woman runs from her rapist and, in a battle, men are smashed into rangoli, which then flies up in a riot of color. Bhansali strains to create an epic love.

By the end, I was so exhausted that I just wanted all the Rajadis and Saneras to kill each other so that we could be done with it.